This Chip Towers piece could be entitled “In Search of Jacob Eason’s Button”. Will it be the threat of Jake Fromm starting that unlocks Eason’s inner competitor? How about the easy dismissals coming from pundits everywhere? What is the key that will unlock Eason’s heart?

UPDATE:This, too, strikes me as more relevant than some of the quasi-juice being served up.

Because if Hurts, Eason and Co. don’t live up to expectations, it won’t just be on them. It will reflect poorly on the league and its coaches for not developing them as well.

If we’re going to put Hurts under the microscope, we should go ahead and throw Nick Saban under it, too. The same goes for Eason and Kirby Smart, Stidham and Gus Malzahn and the rest of the QB/coach tandems in the league.

The linked piece is a fun read, even if I shook my head after this part:

Alabama is considered the stodgier, more football-centric school. Auburn, which is a national powerhouse on the football field as well, fancies itself a little more bookish and likes to tout its engineering program.

The header may have been what drew me into this article, but it’s the conclusion that grabbed me.

Should the SEC elect to completely open up its transfer policy, Saban not-so-playfully suggested the Crimson Tide would only be aided by such a move.

“We would benefit as much as anybody in our league if you said you can transfer. Kentucky’s got a good player? We’ll go see if we can get him to come to Alabama,” Saban said. “Why do we want that? Why do we need that? How does that help the integrity of what we’re trying to do as a conference or as a league? I’m not for having free agency in our conference.”

Coach, pleeze.

The man who had a rule named after Jonathan Taylor is whining about “the integrity of what we’re trying to do as a conference”? Don’t make me laugh.

Beyond that, what Saban is talking about there (“Kentucky’s got a good player? We’ll go see if we can get him to come to Alabama”) is tampering, potentially speaking. Somehow that strikes me as a much bigger threat to integrity than anything Maurice Smith wanted.

The reason Saban is up in arms about this is because his program has greater depth than any other team in the SEC, which means the odds that a loosening of the transfer rules leads to a net talent drain from ‘Bama are decent. That’s some shit Saban has time for.

Anybody think that his next step will be to manage his players’ academic progress to cut down the number of kids eligible for graduate transfers? The man does like to work those envelope edges.

Let’s recap. Kirby Smart is hired in December, 2015, stays with Alabama through the CFP while managing his new job in his spare time, finally gets to Athens to put on a full court press through national signing day, then turns his attention to running a program, preparing for spring practice and somehow in the middle of that mad rush finds the time to help Greg McGarity lobby the state legislature to pass an open records bill.

You’d think the timing suggests that was kind of a high priority, but Georgia’s head coach wants you to know it was no big deal.

Smart was asked if his program has benefited from the law—which doesn’t include salaries of non-clerical staff.

“I don’t think it’s had much of an effect,” Smart said. “You’d have to ask these guys (beat reporters). They send in FOI (Freedom of Information) requests all the time. They might know, but I don’t think there’s been any major benefit for us.”

So if that’s the case, Smart was asked if the law is something should be repealed at some point?

“I’ll be honest with you that’s not a major concern for me and it wasn’t a major concern when it was put in” said Smart, who has downplayed his involvement with what some have referred to as Kirby’s law after he spoke to lawmakers about it. “To me, it allows our staff to get the paperwork together and answer questions and do it in a time-wise manner.”

Lord knows, Butts-Mehre operates on the assumption that it can’t walk and chew gum at the same time, so maybe Smart has a point there. Except if you have even the slightest lick of sense, you know the real reason UGA pushed for the new law.

And in that regard, it’s been quite the success.

One reporter who covers another school who is working on a story sought information via open records from every SEC school. Every public SEC school (not including Vanderbilt, which is private) has provided the records that were sought except for Georgia because the 90 days had not yet been reached.

That may not garner you any conference championships, friends, but don’t think that doesn’t smell like winning to Greg McGarity.

Quote Of The Day

“Give them credit, but I think everybody can see that Georgia’s going to be a force to be reckoned with. I’m very proud of this team and this university, and we’re not going anywhere.’ — Kirby Smart, AJ-C, 1/9/18